Being a mom is a challenge. Everything you do is under scrutiny, but the harshest critic you’ll find as a mother is likely yourself. Sometimes I will pack my child a delicious Lunchable, allow her to stay on the computer for longer than a half hour or let her skip the teeth-brushing part of the evening and wonder aloud if this is the thing that irrevocably effs her up.

To that end, though, I’ve learned that the best strategy to take in the high stakes world of parenting is not to strive to be the best parent. The trick is to be not as bad as the crappiest parent. Whenever I feel down about my parenting skills, I like to think of the following 10 horrible mothers, and then that dinner of mac and cheese and Oreos doesn’t seem nearly as bad.

1. Cersei Lannister, Game of Thrones

OK, so maybe you don’t have everything 100 percent together all of the time. But look on the bright side! You’re not a sociopathic nightmare woman who does the nasty with her brother. Well done, you! That’s a gold star!

2. Mother Gothel, Tangled

Mother Gothel isn’t even technically Rapunzel’s mom in this movie, but she still manages to do enough lasting traumatic damage to keep ye olde royal therapist in business for the rest of poor Rapunzel’s life.

5. Corrine Dollanganger, Flowers in the Attic

Maybe you haven’t put real pants on for months on end, but you know what you’ve never done? You’ve never locked your children in an attic and allowed your own mother to poison them slowly just so you can get your hands on a fortune. So, hooray.

7. Mary Jones, Precious

It’s hard to even make a cohesive joke about Mo’Nique’s portrayal of Mary Jones in Precious, the film version of Sapphire’s novel, Push, because it was so profoundly, pervasively messed up. On your worst days, repeat this mantra: I am not Mary Jones. I am not Mary Jones. I am not Mary Jones.

9. Lucille Bluth, Arrested Development

You wouldn’t want Lucille Bluth as a mom. Foul-mouthed, alcoholic and neglectful, the only thing worse than being Lucille’s least favorite child is being her most favorite child. Buster will likely never recover.